Month: June 2017

As someone who speaks from personal experience, the struggle to maintain and keep you heritage alive while still embracing the culture you live in is real. And there are not nearly enough books that explore this concept. Because of this, whenever I do find a book or a movie or a TV show that explores this and is authentic, I jump on it. So enjoy and … have some more details. 🙂

Neena Arya, a Delhi-born goes abroad for further studies and decides to settle down there. Determined to be a ‘somebody’ from a ‘nobody’ she blends with the Americans via the accent and their mannerisms while having a live-in relationship with her European boyfriend, Adan Somoza.

When illness hits home, Neena rushes to meet her ailing dad. Tragedy strikes and amidst the mingling with relatives and friends, she finds herself suffocated with the two different cultures that she has been breathing since she moved to the United States. How will she strike a balance between both the cultures as she continues to support her widowed mother? Will she be able to do justice to her personal and professional life after the loss?

Amidst the adjusting she bonds with an ally and learns about ties beyond blood. On what grounds will she be able to form an invisible thread that she has longed for since childhood?

Breathing Two Worlds ventures into cultures and ethnicity allowing Neena to ponder upon her foundation and priorities.

“Oh!” the Mom answered, but could not contain her curiosity with one hand holding the hyper toddler and the other on her hip she could not resist, “You two don’t look like brother-sister, hmmm. So, what is your relationship?” she inquired with a slight smile in a soft voice but without any inhibition. A handful of seniors sitting in the same room observed all the drama and nodded to each other while their fingers were moving on the Tulsi neck beads.

Neena rolled her eyes and thought to herself, “Jeez! We Indians are always darn inquisitive.”

Nikhil immediately got up and started walking towards the dining area. This was happening to them for the umpteenth time, and he was now tired of clarifying things. He had lived in this country for half a decade now and still he could never understand the fascination Indians had for marriage and children.

Neena was confused at first because it was unlike Nikhil to be so rude. On the contrary, sometimes Neena referred to him on lessons in patience but today it was different. But then she didn’t have a choice; she felt it was rude to walk away from the young mother leaving the conversation unanswered. Moreover given Indian mentality in all possibility, she might even follow them till she had a convincing answer to her question.

About the Author:

Ruchira Khanna, a biochemist turned writer, left her homeland of India to study in America, where she obtained her Master’s degree in Biochemistry from SJSU and a degree in Technical Writing from UC Berkeley.

After finishing her studies, Ruchira worked as a biochemist at a Silicon Valley startup for five years. After the birth of her son, Ruchira took a job as a technical writer, so that she could
work from home. Soon, she began doing freelance writing work as well.

Her love of writing grew and she started
working on her own books. After four years of freelancing, Ruchira published her first book, a fiction novel for adults called Choices.

Then came the children’s book The Adventures of Alex and Angelo: The Mystery of the Missing Iguana. She got a thumb’s up review from Kirkus Reviews.

In January 2016, she has published her second fictional novel Voyagers into the Unknown. It talks about the quest for happiness as the heavy hearted tourists travel miles from different parts of the world to Raj Touristry in Agra, India. Return to their respective home with a healed heart. This book talks about their journey

In Breathing Two Worlds, Ruchira talks about ethnicity and cultures, and helps to strike a balance via a fiction-drama novel as her characters breathe two worlds.

In addition to writing books, she is a holistic healer associated with Stanford Healing Partners and also maintains a blog of daily mantras on Blogspot, called Abracabadra. Ruchira currently resides in California with her family.

So, as many of you probably already know, I’m going to BookCon tomorrow!!!!!!

Since this is my first time attending – and because I am very Type A – I have been obsessively scouring the web for information on what exactly I should expect. The amount of information out there is overwhelming. So I thought I would compile it here for both your benefit and mine.

When I began my research, the very first place I consulted was the BookCon Websiteitself, which contained a very helpful overviewof the process. Using this as my base, I have added and modified until I have assembled the final product that I will now present to you, in a very logical and organized fashion.

Step 1: Registration

Activating Your Badge

BookCon actually has a couple of registration process that you may have to go through. the first and only required one is Activating Your Badge. BookCon has a through description of this process and why it is necessary here.

Autographing Area

This is a process that is new to this year. Basically some of the more popular authors have signings in the Autographing Area. To be able to get into these signings you had to order tickets online from the Autographing Ticket page on the BookCon website. This is closed now, but don’t worry. All extra tickets are kept at the Registration Desk on Level 2 of the Javits Center, so if you’re browsing the website and see an author with a signing in the A.A you still have a chance at getting your book signed.

Step 2: Planning and Using Your Resources

As I said before, I am a very Type A person, so this is something I always do. But even if you aren’t an organizer you should at least glance over the following lists and places so you have a dim idea of the things that are happening and the events you don’t want to miss.

The BookCon Website

As you can probably tell from the links scattered throughout this article – I find this site pure gold. It isn’t the best site I’ve ever navigated, but it has information, and a lot of it.

The BookCon App

Available on the Android and Apple Appstores, this app not only has a list of all the events, panels, and exhibitors, but also have a devout community of readers, many of whom have gone to BookCon before and are happy to answer any questions you may have.

Social Media

This is a BIG one. Not only should you look at this the day before, but also the day of as many publishers post information about exclusive swag or ARC drops only in these places. Some publishers also have secret pass codes posted as well. But never fear! Rather than having to wade through hundreds and hundreds of tweets, the awesome Chi-Chi Millaway has done it for us and made a ginormous spreadsheet! See it here.

Step 3: Packing

Here is a simple list of the things you should bring with you to BookCon

Badge

Autographing Area Tickets

Rubber Bands

To roll up any posters you might get and lessen the risk of folds!

Ziplocs

To protect your ARCs/Galleys/Swag

Battery Pack

Lines are going to be long and outlets far away. If you don’t want your phone to die bring a battery pack. Of course, even if your phone does die, you’ll be surrounded by many many fellow book lovers, so you’ll never get bored.

Charger

Money

Some booths only accept cash, others only credit, so bring both!

Snacks/Lunch

The Javits Center allows outside food to be brought inside, so I would suggest you do so, especially because the food there is known to be mediocre and overpriced

Luggage

You can’t bring wheeled bags onto the Showroom floor, but you can check them into the coat check! This way, when you have tons of books you need to unload, simply go to your luggage and do so!